174 
DISEASES 
cold currents of air from opposite quarters the 
access of which would lessen the general mildness 
and uniformity of the maritime atmosphere and 
induce frequent transitions to opposite extremes. 
Hence, maritime positions not so protected by 
hills immediately at their backs are of all others 
the least calculated for health, and the least desira¬ 
ble for those who would wish to benefit by sea 
air. Penzance well protected by hills against the 
cold winds has long been known as the English 
Montpelier for its continued mildness , and is con¬ 
sequently the great resort of valetudinarians. There 
too the vegetable w~orld feels the same benign in¬ 
fluence, and in winter garden plants which elsewhere 
are the inevitable sacrifices to frost, are in that 
place found to remain vigorous and healthy. Many 
small places on our coast exhibit some measure of 
this same qualification. Newton Ferrers for in¬ 
stance in my own neighbourhood though protected 
by a very inconsiderable hill, is yet more forward 
in its gardens by several weeks at the commence¬ 
ment of spring than most other places near it, and 
myrtles and geraniums which survive the winter at 
that village, do not long exist in the open air on the 
first accession of frosts in the village immediately 
opposite—separated from the former only by a nar¬ 
row creek. 
Low situations in general however, have their 
disadvantages as before said, and they are not only 
productive of depressing consequences on the hu¬ 
man frame in the usual mode of speech, but they are 
even especially conducive to a sort of Typhus fever 
having its immediate origin probably in the insuffi¬ 
cient stimulus to the nervous system aff orded by the 
dense aqueous atmosphere of such spots, and further 
its inefficiency to produce due oxygenation of the 
blood. Within my own experience, Typhus fever 
is the decided ailment of low abodes, and it has 
